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C Morocutti

Publications and source records attributed to C Morocutti.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Low contrast stimuli enhance PERG sensitivity to the visual dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.

The pattern electroretinogram (PERG) was recorded at different contrast levels (96%, 71%, 47%) in 10 Parkinson's disease patients before and during dopaminergic monotherapy. The data were compared to a control group of 8 normal subjects recorded with the same procedure. PERG P50 latency progressively increased as contrast was decreased both in normal subjects and patients; however, this trend was much more pronounced in PD patients without therapy; consequently in this group the difference between P50 latency obtained with 96% and 47% contrast was statistically significant (P = 0.01, analysis of variance corrected by post-hoc Tukey test). By contrast this was not seen in the control group. Statistical analysis (Bonferroni's t test) showed at the 47% contrast level a significant P50 latency increase (P less than 0.01) in PD patients without therapy if compared with the control group. Dopaminergic monotherapy induced a P50 latency recovery in PD patients. We conclude that low contrast stimuli enhance PERG sensitivity to the visual dysfunction of PD patients. Moreover, the effects observed after therapy confirm that abnormal contrast response functions in PD patients are linked to dopaminergic deficiency.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Autosomal dominant pure cerebellar ataxia. Neurological and genetic study.

A family with late-onset autosomal dominant pure cerebellar ataxia was studied both neurologically and genetically. Neuroimaging and electrophysiological results were in agreement with the clinical evidence showing involvement of the cerebellar system only, even many years after onset. No atrophy of inferior olives was observed by magnetic resonance imaging, while cerebellar atrophy was extremely marked. A very slow disease progression was observed in all patients. The disease can be differentiated from autosomal dominant olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophies, and in particular from spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 mapping on chromosome 6p, which shows an early multisystemic involvement and a more rapid progression toward inability. A genetic study of the family with the 6p DNA marker D6S89 closely linked to the spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 locus was performed. Results showed significant exclusion of a linkage between the disease and the marker within a distance of 8.5% recombination, indicating that genetic heterogeneity underlies phenotypic differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Association of "top of the basilar" syndrome with megadolichobasilar artery. Clinical and neuroimaging evaluation.

We describe the case of a patient with a history of trigeminal neuralgia who suddenly developed the "top of the basilar" syndrome. MRI disclosed ischemic lesions in the left paramedian mesencephalic tectum, in the left ventral thalamus, in the left occipital lobe and a megadolichobasilar artery (MDBA). The association of MDBA with the top of the basilar syndrome is rarely reported. We discuss the possible hemodynamic mechanism producing a top of the basilar syndrome in the presence of MDBA.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA1) in two large Italian kindreds: evidence in favour of a locus position distal to GLO1 and the HLA cluster.

Two large Italian pedigrees with HLA-linked spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA1) were typed for HLA-A, -B and -DR as well as for markers either distal (F13A, D6S8) or proximal (D6S29, GLO1) to HLA. Pairwise linkage analyses of SCA1 vs. HLA-A, -B, and -DR showed peak lodscores of 5.3, 5.6 and 3.3 respectively at 7% recombination. Negative lodscores significantly excluded linkage with F13A at less than 5% and with GLO1 at less than 10%. The lodscores with D6S8 and D6S29 had only low peaks. Recombination events in the two pedigrees and the estimated genetic distances of SCA1 from GLO1 and HLA favour the hypothesis of a SCA1 location distal to both of them. An order cen-GLO1-HLA-SCA1-tel appears therefore most likely with present data. These results are discussed in relation to previous reports placing SCA1 distal to HLA in two families and

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Short-latency sinusoidal wavelets to bright flashed stimuli: studies with corneal lens, nasopharyngeal, retrobulbar and scalp recordings.

Short-latency flash visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded in 30 healthy volunteers and 14 patients (7 with retrobulbar neuritis and 7 with retinitis pigmentosa). Simultaneous recordings were performed by corneal, scalp, nasopharyngeal and retrobulbar (5 patients) electrodes. In 18 out of 30 healthy controls a brief sequence of oscillating wavelets was recorded between 15 and 40 ms on the scalp sites behind the vertex. In retrobulbar neuritis (RBN) patients normal responses were recorded by lens, retrobulbar, nasopharyngeal and frontal scalp electrodes. On the contrary none of these patients displayed short-latency activity behind the Cz scalp position. In 5 out of the 7 patients with retinitis pigmentosa, corneal, nasopharyngeal and scalp electrodes failed to detect any reliable waveform time-locked to the flash onset. In the remaining 2, a small lens ERG was recorded, while all other electrodes recorded a sequence of low-volted wavelets initiating 30 ms after the stimulus onset. In these patients an occipital VEP reduced in amplitude and with prolonged latency was also recorded. It is concluded that in presence of a normal corneal ERG because of the presence of volume spread oscillating retinal activity, it is hard to define while part of the scalp recorded, short latency, oscillating potentials is generated in subcortical visual structures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

A longitudinal study of multimodal evoked potentials in diabetes mellitus.

Abnormal findings in visual (VEP), brainstem auditory (BAEP) and somatosensory (SEP) evoked potentials at early stages of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes have recently been reported by our group. Our aim here was to perform a longitudinal study in diabetic patients at an early stage of the disease using a combined evoked potential analysis in order to evaluate the variation of neurological abnormalities over time. Nine Type 1 and 12 Type 2 diabetic patients were examined and a second recording was carried out after a mean interval of 15.7 months +/- 6.2 SD. VEP, BAEP and SEP were measured in all patients. At the first recording electrophysiological abnormalities, present in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes were more evident when a multimodal evaluation was used (44.4% and 66.7% respectively). The follow-up study showed that overall neurological abnormalities persisted in all those patients who had previously presented pathological values. Whereas the number of patients with pathological values remained unmodified, a tendency to progression, namely the number of nervous levels with electrophysiological abnormalities, was observed. Thus, our study confirms the appearance of anatomofunctional disorders in the central nervous system in short-term diabetes, shows the persistence of neurological impairment in such patients and reveals a progressive segmental involvement at different nervous levels.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1988

Early detection of neurological involvement in IDDM and NIDDM. Multimodal evoked potentials versus metabolic control.

Clarification of the extent and mechanisms of damage to the central nervous system in diabetes is a frontier of current neurological research. Our aim was to obtain ample electrophysiological documentation of possible neurological abnormalities in both insulin-dependent (IDDM) and non-insulin-dependent (NIDDM) diabetic patients with a short duration of disease and without overt complications, taking into account metabolic control. Group 1 comprised 11 IDDM patients, and group 2 included 14 NIDDM patients treated with diet alone; the duration of disease was less than 4 yr, and no concomitant clinical complications were present. Age- and sex-matched normal subjects formed groups 3 and 4. Pattern visual evoked potentials (VEP), brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP; after the stimulation of both median and tibial nerves) were recorded in all subjects, and metabolic control was evaluated in terms of glycemia and glycosylated hemoglobin. In group 1, significant abnormalities were found in the latency values of VEP, median SEP, and tibial SEP compared with control subjects. Similar latency abnormalities were shown in group 2 for VEP, median SEP, and tibial SEP values and for wave I latency of BAEP. Glycosylated hemoglobin values were correlated with BAEP and SEP abnormalities in many patients in both groups. Furthermore, in group 2, glycemic values correlated with SEP abnormalities. We therefore conclude that neurophysiological abnormalities are present at different levels in IDDM and NIDDM patients only a few years after clinical diagnosis and before the appearance of overt complications, and these abnormalities seem to be correlated with metabolic control status.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Prognostic value of early somatosensory evoked potentials during carotid surgery: relationship with electroencephalogram, stump pressure and clinical outcome.

The authors have reported on the prognostic value of continuous monitoring of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) in a survey of 25 patients who underwent carotid surgery. SEP recordings were correlated with the EEG, stump pressure (SP) values and clinical outcome. A non-cephalic reference was used for SEP recordings to allow the analysis of both subcortical and cortical components. During surgery the conduction time between SEP peaks relating to the subcortical components remained stable or showed minimum variations in all patients. During carotid clamping, SEP variations were observed in 9 out of 25 cases (36%). The application of an intraluminal shunt was accompanied by the return to normal values in 7 out of 9 patients. In the remaining two cases SEP abnormalities continued post-operatively and were accompanied by new neurological deficits. EEG changes during carotid clamping were associated with SEP modifications in 6 out of 7 cases, although they were not always correlated. Results confirm that SEP recordings provide useful data concerning the function of the CNS in anaesthetized patients and that, being sensitive to CBF changes, SEP monitoring acts as an indicator of cerebral ischaemia.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Cerebrovascular accidents in acute myocardial infarction.

Cerebral ischemia was recorded in 1.9% of 1277 patients with myocardial infarction. In most cases ischemia involved the carotid artery system, usually causing a hemiparesis or hemiplegia. Patients were mostly elderly, and the ischemic episode worsened their prognosis. The pathogenesis was surely often of embolic origin but several facts suggest that other mechanisms were also involved. Anticoagulant therapy, at least in the form in which it was used in these patients, i.e. subcutaneous administration of calcium heparin 5000 I.U. b.i.d. for thrombophlebitis prophylaxis, does not seem to prevent these complications.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Parkinson disease: electrophysiological (CNV) analysis related to pharmacological treatment.

The contingent negative variation (CNV) was studied in a group of patients with Parkinson's disease. Testing was carried out 3 times: after a pharmacological wash-out period and at 15 and 30 days after the start of treatment with L-DOPA and bromocriptine. Peak and area CNV increased significantly after each treatment. The post-imperative negative variation (PINV) was observed in 6 out of 10 patients. The correlation found between electrophysiological functioning (CNV) measures and pharmacological treatment supports the view that dopaminergic brain activity mediates the generation of the slow negative event-related brain potentials.

Bromocriptine↗
PubMed1986

Early auditory evoked potential changes during hypoxic hypoxia in the rabbit.

Early auditory evoked potentials and electroencephalograms were recorded in 10 rabbits during hypoxic hypoxia (5% O2 in N2 gas mixture) and after reoxygenation. In all experiments EEG flattening preceded the disappearance of the early evoked potential, whose recovery after reoxygenation was more rapid than that of the EEG. Significant increases in P3-P4 and P1-P3 interpeak latencies were observed during hypoxic conditions before the complete flattening of the early auditory evoked potential. In addition, negative relationships were found between the P3-P4 interpeak latency increase and mean arterial pressure reduction, and between the former and metabolic acidosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Pain, anxiety, and contingent negative variation: a clinical and pharmacological study.

Contingent negative variation (CNV) behavior was studied in 16 volunteers who were suffering from spontaneous recurrent pain syndromes (idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia, classic migraine). The subjects were divided into two groups, "more anxious" and "less anxious," based on psychometric tests (MMPI and STAI X2). The CNV recordings were carried out, respectively, in basal resting state, during an episode of pain, while under anxiolytic treatment, and lastly, during an episode of pain while under anxiolytic therapy. CNV voltage decrease and frequent appearance of postimperative negative variation (PINV) were observed when pain was present during the recording session. These phenomena were more marked when the pain was accompanied by a greater degree of anxiety. Finally, our results suggest that this slow evoked potential is sensitive to various degrees of anxiety and to pain perception in man, making it useful in the investigation of pain as a complex sensation.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Pattern visual evoked potentials and flash electroretinogram in clinically definite multiple sclerosis.

The authors have studied, by means of pattern visual evoked potential (VEP) and flash electroretinogram (ERG) recordings, a group of 15 patients affected by definite multiple sclerosis. All of the subjects examined presented a clinical history indicating involvement of the visual pathways; VEPs were altered in a high percentage of eyes examined (93.3%), while a lower percentage of abnormal ERGs was seen (20% of eyes examined). The only type of ERG alteration found consisted of a pathologic b wave voltage increase, observed mainly with red flash stimuli. This finding could be attributed to an involvement of centrifugal optic nerve fibers having inhibitory functions on retinal cells.

Adult↗